How To Handle Today's Disturbing News

Reporters and rescue workers from countries around the world assisting in the Japan rescue efforts, are amazed how calmly the people of Japan are enduring such a horrific crisis.  

They noted there is no looting or blatant displays of public anger like we have seen in other countries struck by earthquakes and disasters, including the US.

Japanese store owners are giving away their supplies.  People are quietly helping one another sharing their last morsels of food with strangers.   

Reporters say it is the culture to not show much emotion. Maybe, but is also  part of their Spiritual practice. Shinto and Buddhism are Japan's two major religions. They have been co-existing for several centuries and have even complemented each other to a certain degree. Most Japanese consider themselves Buddhist, Shintoist or both.

About 91 million people in Japan claim to be Buddhist practitioners.

This Sporting the Right Attitude newsletter is based on the 2,500 year old Buddhist practice of Mindfulness, along with Christianity and other ancient religions, including Judaism, and Native American teachings.  All are leading to the one path, discovering your Higher Self. 

We were first introduced to  Mindfulness through our Japanese teacher, Eiko Michi, nearly 30 years ago.  Eiko is a mystic from Japan who was also a former UCLA professor.  We were blessed to know her.  She changed our life and our path.   For decades we have remained in touch with her.  

Unfortunately, the last few days we have been unsuccessfully trying to contact her.  

This is what we learned from Eiko which helps to understand the mindset of how the Japanese are enduring this horrific crisis, and why you won't see blatant displays of uncontrolled emotions.   

Buddhism is based on the Four Noble Truths:

1. Suffering exists
2. Suffering arises from attachment to desires
3. Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
4. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path

The Eightfold Path is practicing:

 1) right view 2) Right Intention 3) Right Speech 4) Right Action 5) Right Livelihood 6) Right Effort 7) Right Mindfulness 8) Right Concentration.

Mindfulness Practice, a type of meditation, is the way Buddha taught us to live, which is closely aligned to the Christ Mind.  However, Mindfulness which comes from Buddhism, is not a religion.  It is a practice to help us live in the moment.

Mindfulness is increasingly being employed in Western psychology to alleviate a variety of mental and physical conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and in the prevention of relapse in depression and drug addiction.  Pain and cancer clinics around the country are teaching mindfulness as well as in some schools and branches of the military. 

Mindfulness is having less emotional reactivity and more stability of mind.  Not overreacting emotionally brings greater mental clarity, which is healthy,  Having stability of mind makes you better able to cope with any disaster in your life.

YOU TOO Can Practice Mindfulness to Deal and Overcome You Suffering.

As you watch the news of Japan's disasters, or when you are handling disasters and bad news of your own, remember Buddha's teaching.  You don't have to suffer despite the circumstance.

Here is the Mindfulness practice to help you deal with the news in Japan, and in your own life: 

Try to get comfortable as you can in your sitting posture.  If you lie down (not recommended), try not to go to sleep.  You can also do this standing in line at the post office.  Mindfulness can be done anywhere at anytime.

First take a few deep breaths and allow yourself to connect with your body.  Notice how you back feels against the chair.  How do your clothes feel on your body?  How do the soles of your feet feel in your shoes if you are standing?  What does the floor feel like?

Bring your attention to the area of your body that feels uncomfortable.  Usually people feel a clutching or tightening in their body when they are dealing with an unpleasant situation, or hearing bad news.

Explore in your body  where you may feel uncomfortable,  Is it sharp or dull?  Burning? Stabbing?  Is it moving, or does it stay in one place?  How deeply does it go into your body?  Get very curious about the changing set of bodily sensations.

After 30 seconds or so (you can choose any short amount of time), Notice your attitude toward the unpleasant feeling.  Do you hate it, fear it, resent it, blame yourself for it?  Do not judge or criticize your feelings.  Observe and let them go.

Be sure to breathe.  

Thich Nhat Hanh, a world renown Zen Master (we currently study, and attend his retreats), teaches this way of practicing Mindfulness:

"There are three sorts of feelings--pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral.  When we have an unpleasant feeling, we may want to chase it away.  But it is more effective to return to our conscious breathing and just observe it, identifying it silently to ourselves:  "Breathing in, I know there is an unpleasant feeling in me.  Breathing out, I know there is an unpleasant feeling in me."  Calling a feeling by its name, such as "anger," "sorrow," "joy," or "happiness," helps us identify it clearly and recognize it more deeply."

Remember you are simply observing, not trying to change anything.  The first law of Science, is what is observed, changes.  Mindfulness is the act of awareness, which acts like a laser to dissolve any blocks emotionally, mentally,  or physically.  You will notice during this practice, a space between you and the uncomfortable feeling happens.  Suddenly, you won't feel overwhelmed by this emotion.  In this space is where you will find peace, understanding, and clarity.

Make Mindfulness a daily practice to release stress and to help you deal with any and everything in your life.

GIVE TO RED CROSS FOR JAPAN

Coming soon:  "Your Happiness is Within"

That Doesn't Apply to Me

Have you ever been with someone, and you both see a sad situation, and the person you are with says the famous phrase, "There but for the grace of God goes I"? Or, maybe you have said that yourself when you see someone suffering.  

Whether you have said it, or someone you were with did, it, doesn't matter.  The fact is that phrase is fear-based.  

And, if there is fear present, you may find yourself worried about money, your job,  or walking faster past a homeless or a disabled person fearing you could "catch" what they have. 

Whether you believe in a Higher power or not, if you fear something, you attract it to you.    This is the law of attraction. 

Where did that phrase come from?  Not the Bible as some might expect.  It is widely attributed to John Bradford (1510-1555), an English evangelical preacher.  The word is, Bradford was imprisoned for  allegedly "trying to stir up a mob."  When he saw criminals, fellow inmates being led to the scaffold for punishment for their crimes, he uttered the phrase, "There but for the grace of God goes I." 

In 1955, Bradford  was not beheaded, but instead was burned at the stake alive.

Still want to use his phrase?  

How to Deal with Other's Misfortune.

So, how do you deal with the bad news you hear through others or the media?  Send them love and your good wishes.  Love is the greatest power in the universe, and since we are all connected, like prayers the energy of love connects to  them.  

Don't forget yourself either.    There is a small child inside of each of us who needs comforting, and assurance  when we hear negative news.  Tell yourself it's OK, and send yourself love. It also helps to practice feeling Divine Love surrounding and protecting you always.

Mindfulness

Tune into your feelings and thoughts.  Are you fearing that the misfortune you heard  could happen to you?  Awareness (Mindfulness) of thoughts and emotions helps distance you from them.  But, when they are unchecked these same thoughts and emotions, drive you to do and say destructive things.  Mainly, you beat up yourself or overindulge in drink, shopping and other habits.

Now you have prolonged the fear which became stronger, and you have the residual of substance abuse, or a huge credit card bill to deal with.  The underline fear is still there waiting to be handled.

So mindfully tune into your feelings, and thoughts.  Your awareness is the laser that dissolves and moves away fear.  Just by being aware that you are afraid, lessens the hold.

Use Positive Affirmations, or Scriptures.

You can also use a positive self-help phrase, other than Bradford's fear-based phrase, and most importantly, give yourself love.

When you hear of other's misfortunes, you don't really know exactly what happened in their lives to cause the situation, or what is truthfully going on behind their  problems.   

There have been many media interviews people who have lost jobs.  You may think, "That could happen to me too," and live in fear.  But, what you don't know is that person interviewed may have hated the job they lost.  They later went on, like many people do, to find a better job, or start a business making more money than they dreamed, not to mention being happier. 

So when you see a misfortune, drop your fears and try using this phrase: 

 "That Doesn't Apply to Me."

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Why Is This Happening?

Recently I connected with a lovely lady I will call Beth, who is  co-chair, heading a project to save the beautiful land around Deer Park  from being developed.  Deer Park is a monastery at the top of a mountain near San Diego which was founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist Master, Mindfulness Teacher and Peace Activist. 

Our family travels to Deer Park for meditation and retreats, like the thousands who come every year from around the world. 

Last weekend Walter and I went there, and I was reminded of the mission I have joined to help Beth and others preserve the land of refuge for so many people. 

Through a recent email from Beth, she shared with me that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in Arizona, is her personal friend. I could feel her sadness in her email.  

When awful things happen, it's only natural to wonder why?  Our minds search for answers, and when answers don't come that satisfy us, often we turn to  anger and want to blame any and every person. No doubt, you have heard the blame slung around by the Republicans and Democrats sounding off and pointing the fingers over the shooting. 

These types of tragic events lead us to imagine and construct a whole story in our heads of why this has happened.  We all go through our personal tragedies that send our minds spinning with fear. 

Ruminating on "why" is a dangerous, slippery slope which adds kindle to the fire.  First of all, we often don't know right away why something tragic has happened.  Secondly, when we don't have the truth, we imagine stories in our heads which are often far worse than the reality. We obsess about the situation to the point we become furious or very sad.  

Sadness is anger turned inward, because we can't do something about a situation. 

When we ruminate over a "wrong" we help collect more of the same type of negative energy.  Instead we must lift ourselves out of the cesspool of anger and blame, to be the light for ourselves and others.

For example, recently in the news, a family lost their home just before Xmas, but they turned the incident around to see how they could help others.  So the homeless family  when interviewed, said they didn't spend time asking, "Why?" or "Why Me?"  Instead they served  Xmas dinner to help other homeless people at a shelter. 

How do we find peace over these unspeakable tragic acts?

Mindfulness.

Nothing has ever been resolved by anger or sadness.  We must go inside and just be with our feelings.  We must become the parent to those feelings, by first acknowledging that the hurt is there, then comfort those feelings.  Thich Nhat Hanh says to "love them."  Love your feelings the same way a parent would love a child who is crying.

Inside of us is a small child crying and hurt.  It's important that we nurture that child.   

When we send our feelings love, we are turning away from our limited mind.    The mind doesn't know.  Many of us are stuck asking it,  "Why?" or "Why Me?"  

Our webmaster  Randy, who has had four heart attacks, counsels other heart attack patients.  He says "I can't stand it when people feel sorry for themselves and keep asking, 'Why Me?'  I say, Why not you?  Instead, find the strength to just go on."

When we are mindful, and stop torturing the mind, and letting the mind torture us asking 'Why?' , the answers come out of our silence from a deep place of wisdom.  So if you are hurt, afraid and anxious, find immediate comfort and peace over the situation by going inside. Locate in your body where you feel the hurt and fear.   Cradle it with your loving awareness, and watch it dissolve.   

Dropping the stories you concoct in your head and being with your feelings in silence, allows your higher, intuitive self to take over.  You will not only find the answers to any situation, but you will also find the right path to proceed in life with peace and wisdom.

Blessings, love and light to the Arizona victims and their families.  May you find inner peace, healing and love.

Watch this incredibly beautiful video by David Ault: